Ubuntu 17.10 New Features And Release Date

Canonical has announced the release date, the complete release schedule to be precise, of the next Ubuntu short term release, i.e., Ubuntu 17.10. It was also revealed that Ubuntu 17.10’s code name will be Artful Aardvark. As per our poll, the majority of users liked the new name.

As said above, Ubuntu 17.10 release schedule is now public. You’ll be able to get your hands on the final Ubuntu 17.10 release on October 19, 2017. Here’s the complete release schedule:

Ubuntu 17.10 Release Schedule

• Alpha 1 for opt-in flavors — June 29th (Released)
• Alpha 2 for opt-in flavors — July 27th (Released)
• Feature Freeze, Debian Import Freeze — August 24th
• Beta 1 for opt-in flavors — August 31st
• Final Beta — September 28th
• Kernel Freeze — October 5th
• Final Freeze, Release Candidate — October 12th
• Final Release Ubuntu 17.10 — October 19th

For those who don’t know, Ubuntu follows a time-based cycle, instead of a feature-driven cycle. This means that Ubuntu plans in advance to release on a fixed date and the development process is carried out by keeping that in mind. In general, the October releases follow a 25-week schedule. The freezes normally take place at 2100 UTC.

Ubuntu 17.10 New Features

It’s very early to write about the list of final features that are going to arrive in Ubuntu 17.10 Artful Aardvark. Still, we have a rough idea of the major changes. I’ll be covering these features in detail once the final release of Ubuntu 17.10 arrives. Take a look:

• GNOME will be default desktop (probably GNOME 3.26)
• Ubuntu GNOME won’t be a separate flavor
• Wayland display server by default
• Optional X.org server session
• Mesa 17.2 or Mesa 17.3
• Linux kernel 4.13 or kernel 4.14
• New Subiquity server installer
• Mozilla Thunderbird might not be default email client
• Better hardware support
• New Ubuntu Server installer
• Switching to libinput
• An always visible dock using Dash to Dock GNOME Shell extension
• Bluetooth improvements with a new BlueZ
• Upgraded to Network Manager 1.8
• GDM is the default Display Manager
• EXT4 encryption with fscrypt
• Windows buttons back to the right top corner
• Better GPU/CUDA support
• 4K/ HiDPI/Multimonitor improvements
• Minimal images getting smaller

Please note that these are the tentative Ubuntu 17.10 features. So, you should take some of them with a pinch of salt. I’ll be keeping a close eye on Ubuntu 17.10 development cycle to tell you about the latest updates.